If moral statements are about something, then the universe is not quite as science suggests it is, since … - David Berlinski

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The fact that somebody is reducing your salary is just telling me they're not satisfied with what you're doing.

David Berlinski

If moral statements are about something, then the universe is not quite as science suggests it is, since physical theories, having said nothing about God, say nothing about right or wrong, good or bad. To admit this would force philosophers to confront the possibility that the physical sciences offer a grossly inadequate view of reality. And since philosophers very much wish to think of themselves as scientists, this would offer them an unattractive choice between changing their allegiances or accepting their irrelevance.

Irrelevance, Philosophers, Reality, Scientists, Thinking, Unattractive

Same Author Quotes

At some time in the history of the universe, there were no human minds, and at some time later, there were. Within the blink of a cosmic eye, a universe in which all was chaos and void came to include hunches, beliefs, sentiments, raw sensations, pains, emotions, wishes, ideas, images, inferences, the feel of rubber, Schadenfreude, and the taste of banana ice cream.

Cream, Eye, Ice Cream, Images, Pain, Rubber

More than sixty years ago, mathematical logicians, by defining precisely the concept of an algorithm, gave content to the ancient human idea of an effective calculation. Their definitions led to the creation of the digital computer, an interesting example of thought bending matter to its ends.

Years, Ideas, Interesting, Creation, Precisely

Darwin's theory of evolution is the last of the great nineteenth-century mystery religions. And as we speak it is now following Freudians and Marxism into the Nether regions, and I'm quite sure that Freud, Marx and Darwin are commiserating one with the other in the dark dungeon where discarded gods gather.

Dark, Dungeons, Marx, Nether, Quite, Theory Of Evolution

While science has nothing of value to say on the great and aching questions of life, death, love and meaning, what the religious traditions of mankind have said forms a coherent body of thought. . . . There is recompense for suffering. A principle beyond selfishness is at work in the cosmos. . . I do not know whether any of this is true. I am certain that the scientific community does not know that it is false.

Religious, Community, Suffering, Body, Selfishness, Certain

There are gaps in the fossil graveyard, places where there should be intermediate forms, but where there is nothing whatsoever instead. No paleontologist. . denies that this is so. It is simply a fact, Darwin's theory and the fossil record are in conflict.

Forms, Fossils, Gaps, Intermediate, Nothing, Records